The invention relates to docking systems.
As portable computers have become increasingly powerful, many users are now using portable computers as replacements for desktop computers. In the office or other location, portable computers may be docked to docking base units for convenient access to additional resources, including a network, a printer, mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, compact disc (CD) or digital video disc (DVD) drives, and other types of devices. By using a docking unit, such resources become available once the portable computer is docked.
Various types of docking solutions exist. One includes a docking connector that couples an expansion or secondary bus in the portable unit to a corresponding bus in the docking base unit. Another type of system includes docking connectors that couple a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, as described in the PCI Local Bus Specification, Production Version, Revision 2.1, published in June 1995, in the portable computer to a PCI bus in the docking base unit.
In many types of docking systems, dedicated docking pins, other than standard pins such as bus protocol signal pins may be needed. This increases the pin count in the docking connector. In addition, in many docking systems, there is no standard mechanism defined for live attachment or detachment of the portable computer to or from the docking base unit. Thus, depending on the location and number of dedicated docking pins in the docking connector and whether live attach and detach capabilities are implemented, different computer manufacturers may develop different docking mechanisms. As a result, a docking base unit is typically designed specifically for a particular portable or family of portable computers from one computer manufacturer due to the various incompatible docking solutions.